Two of Macau’s main border checkpoints will resume their normal operating hours at 6 a.m. Sunday, a spokesman for the Macau Customs Service announced at the daily press conference by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre about the highly infectious disease today.

According to the spokesman, the resumption of the normal operating hours of the two checkpoints has been made possible by the improving COVID-19 situation in Macau and the Chinese mainland and after talks between the local and Macau governments.

Once again, Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoint at the Zhuhai land border will operate between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. daily. In response to the novel coronavirus epidemic, the checkpoint had only operated between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. since March.

The Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will operate between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, its operating hours had been reduced to between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The spokesman also said there was still no date for the resumption of bus services across the delta bridge, while private cars would again be allowed.

Meanwhile, a Health Bureau (SSM) official announced at the press conference that one more COVID-19 patient was discharged today after 25 days of hospital treatment. The patient, the last novel coronavirus case to have been confirmed in Macau, was immediately transferred to the bureau’s isolation clinic in Coloane for 14-days of recovery and medical observation.

The official also said that for the time being the local government intends to maintain its “double quarantine” for local residents travelling between Macau and Hong Kong, i.e. they must undergo 14-day quarantine after arriving in Hong Kong and another 14 days of quarantine when returning from Hong Kong to Macau.

Among Macau’s 45 novel coronavirus patients, only 7 are still in hospital including relapse cases.

Macau has not confirmed a new COVID-19 case for 24 days. Unlike Hong Kong, Macau has been spared a community outbreak. The Health Bureau has classified 43 of 45 cases as imported and two as “cases connected to imported cases.”